dangerous radio active substance is stolen in mexico. now the u.s. and the international atomic energy agency are concerned about dirty bombs. >> internationally famous chef nigella lawson makes an unexpected and rather startling confession in court. >> and pope tells a crowd that he had lots of odd jobs in miss life, including working as a club bouncer. >> welcome to around the world. i'm fret rick ca whitfield. >> i'm michael holmes.

thanks for your company today. >> in mexico, the u.s. department of homeland security is helping in the search for a stolen truck carrying radio active material, cobalt 60 which the international atomic energy agency says could be used to make so-called dirty bombs. >> the agency says all of this happened monday near mexico city. the truck was transporting the material to a waste storage facility. the iaea says the material was properly shielded but could be very dangerous if that shield were damaged or removed. joining us now rafael romo, also evan perez. let's start with you, rafael. tell us about the kind of risk that this material presents in terms of that dirty bomb theory. >> well, one of the first questions was that exactly, michael. whether it be used to build a dirty bomb. the risk is certainly great but what we have found is that the cobalt that was stolen in the truck more than likely could not be used for that purpose and

here's why. just a few moments ago, i spoke with an employee at the hospital in tijuana, mexico where it originated. he told me it came from a radio therapy machine that had been in operation for 30 years and was not working properly. cobalt is radio active but has a half of only five years and apparently was being disposed of in mexico because it was already spent. that's what we learned this morning. >> so how did the robbery actually unfold? is it believed this was an untentional target, the truck or might this have been pure coincidence? >> it doesn't appear it was intentional. the truck was stolen in a town just north of mexico city about 44 kilometers north. the international atomic energy agency issued an alert saying that at the time the truck was stolen, the source was properly shielded. the iaea also said that the cobalt can be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding or damaged.

now, the use of cobalt 60 in the medical field consists primarily of cancer therapy. most exposure okurs intentionally during medical tests and treatment. this is the dangerous part. gamma rays can cause cancer after extended exposure. iaea director general said in a speech last year that it could be used to make so-called dirty bombs but again the cobalt stolen may not be in any condition to be used for anything more. one thing more. the department of homeland security is involved in the investigation in mexico trying to find the cobalt. >> that's good news anyway. perhaps, yeah, that's new information. let's go to evan now standing by. evan, what are u.s. authorities doing to try to help out here and track down this truck? are they doing anything to help out? >> yeah, they've issued an alert to all the law enforcement agencies along the border. and the homeland security

department itself has these sensors deployed with border agents which they can use to wand any type of truck that comes through a border crossing to try to detect whether any of this material is coming through. now, as rafael has mentioned, it is a very big concern obviously for many years now, the homeland security department has worried someone could try to pass something like this across the border to try to detonate some kind of bomb. as rafael has also mentioned, it's a very difficult thing to do. this thing is encased in lead. it is very difficult to extract. there are these little chunks of cobalt 6 on a now if one were to handle it, to even hold it for a few minutes, it is a very dangerous thing and could cause permanent damage, but it is not something that is easily done. at this point, i think they're trying to help the mexican government figure out whether this was just taken by somebody who was targeting some of the scrap material that was on the

truck that was taken, fredricka and michael. at this point, they're trying to figure out how to track it down. >> all right, evan perez, keep us posted as you learn new information. and rafael romo, thanks for that reporting >> if it was at a gas station, which you pop in and get something and the truck gets stolen with that stuff in it. >> happening quickly. the iaea says good progress on another case is being made in the toughest nuclear clean-up ever attempted. it's under way right now in japan at the fukushima daiichi power plant. >> radio active water is still poisoning the sea around the plant. this is more than two years after the nuclear disaster. but in a new report, inspectors point to two important things right now happening. nuclear fuel being removed from one of the four damaged reactors, also radio active leakage is being reduced. >> anna coren has gotten very close to the recovery work there. closer than any other

journalist. she takes us deep inside the nuclear plant to explain the risky clean-up operation in this cnn exclusive. >> we are here inside reactor 4 at the fukushima daiichi power plant that was severely crippled during the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 leading to the country's worst nuclear disaster. it was in here where there was that massive hydrogen explosion that severely damaged the building, that this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and it wasn't actually operating. well, now, two and a half years later, tepco says it's reached a milestone. that massive crane behind me is successfully moving 1500 fuel rods in that cooling pool to a storage pool next door. it's a slow and delicate process that will take about a year, but once finished, it will mean that this reactor can be decommissioned. attention will then turn to

reactors one, two, and three that suffered far worse damage. the situation there is serious. and levels of radiation are dangerously high. workers have begun moving debris, but the clean-up inside the reactors is a long way off. officials here say the entire plant won't be demissed for at least 40 years. well, as for the future of nuclear power in japan, no one really knows. more than 50 reactors have been shut down with the public very concerned about their health and safety. but japanese prime minister shinzo abe is pushing to reopen them believing that japan can have a safe nuclear future. anna coren, cnn, fukushima, japan. >> on to france where lawmakers voted moments ago to make it illegal to pay for sex. the move by the national assembly would criminalize prostitution for the client. not the prostitute paying for sex is currently legal in france. >> it's a big issue over there.

if the measure does become law, it's got a few more steps to go, people caught paying for sex would face fines of at least 1500 euros. that's a little bit over $2,000. french president would have to sign the bill and it has to get through the senate, but before that happens, that vote could come as late as next summer. but certainly making headlines in france. >> depending where you are, brace yourselves for an arctic invasion. temperatures will plummet across much of the u.s. >> a bit chilly up north an the moment, snow, ice, sleet, rain all in the forecast today. there is already heavy snow in the rockies. also the upper midwest around minnesota. >> minneapolis could get as much as 10 inches. commuters in utah are praise bracing for bitter cold and ice on top of the snow they're already coping with. >> how is your drive so far today? >> awful. >> be really careful or it can cost you. >> i had to go rescue my son.

>> what happened to your son? >> his car died. >> that's utah where snow is really usually no big deal. now, look at nevada. check out the snowy commute in reno. tomorrow and friday there is ice in the forecast from north texas to oklahoma and missouri. that will impact travel for all people in those regions. highs behind hane the winter storm will drop well below average, for example, dallas will drop from 80 degrees today, balmy to 31. >> what? >> on friday. >> 15-degree swing. >> that's huge, miserable potentially. >> in the southeast, as well as we know here in atlanta, it's been rain, rain, rain. a little bit of fog thrown in. all good fun. it's december, come on. >> all right already, huh? more of what we're working on this hour for around the world. look at this incredible image here. a desperate attempt now being made to save dozens of these pilot whales in the florida

everglades. >> we've got a live report coming from miami. also this, need more proof that he really is the pope of the people? well, how about revelations that pope francis was once a bouncer? at a nightclub. he was probably very polite though. >> i'm sure. would you kindly leave like right now. >> all that and more on the pontiff. hi honey, did you get the toaster cozy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare. ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪

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cortizone-10 has the strongest nonprescription itch medicine plus moisturizers to help heal skin fast. cortizone-10. feel the heal. here are stories making news right now. men with guns shot a man dead in lebanon today. he was a top military commander in the militant group hezbollah. >> he's a big deal.

hassan al laqis killed outside his home in beirut coming home from work. a little known sunni group has claimed responsibility in a twitter message. hezbollah blamed israel initially calling it an assassination. israeli officials quickly denied having anything to do with his death. but this is is seen as a bit of a blow for hezbollah. this guy was pretty senior, very close to the leader of hezbollah nasrallah. we're watching closely for more developments out of beirut. . >> and to beijing now. lots of pump and ceremony as china's president welcomed vice president joe biden. the president called biden an old friend and praised u.s.-china relations. biden described the relationship between the two countries as full of promise. their public remarks gave no hint of the tension, however, between the united states and

china concerning air space over the east china sea. however, senior officials traveling with the vice president say during private talks, biden told the president that the u.s. does not recognize china's newly declared air defense zone over that disputed area and that the u.s. has deep concerns about the situation that this is about as delicate as a regional situation can get. yesterday, biden assured japanese leaders that he would push china over the issue. >> we will, the united states, are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the east china sea. this action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation. >> and that is the big fear, of course. this dispute could put tys with china to the test. we got word from a senior administration official that mr. biden did say to the chinese

that they don't, the u.s. does not recognize this zone. they don't accept it. they don't recognize it. it's going to be interesting to see how that play out. there will be a lot of testing involved. >> still in that general region, retired nba star dennis rodman is once again headed to nrk. rodman been help train the north korean basketball team later this month according to the company responsering his trip. the online betting company says the team will play at least one exhibition game against former nebraska players in january. >> he got chummy with the north korean leader kim jong-un. rod man calls him for a friend for life. maybe he can do a little bit of diplomacy on the side. we'll see. >> a horrible attack at that nearly blinded the former artistic director of the famed bolshoi ballet. >> sergei filin is his name wearing sunglasses to shield his eyes after acid was thrown at his face.

now the attackers are in jail. they're doing time, but is something like that happened to you, could you ever imagine moving on? we'll go to moscow now where in this interview, our matthew chance spoke with sergei filin for the first time publicly since his attackers were given that jail time yesterday. >> not just problem with my eyes. there's problem with my heart. >> disfigured and half blinded by the acid, the bolshoi's artistic director has followed the trial of his attackers in agony. even their sentencing has done little to ease his pain. >> you say you accept the verdict, but of course, your eyesight has been damaged possibly for the rest of your life. can you forgive the people that carried out this attack against you? >> translator: of course not. i cannot fib them because there is no sentence nor punishment

that would enable me to recover my eyesight. >> as a dancer, sergei filin was one of russia's brightest stars, but his artistic leadership of the bolshoi ballet, russia's most prominent cultural icon has been marred by scandal, including his own horrific attacking with sulfuric acid outside his moscow home. >> translator: what i felt was unbearable agony. it hurt all over my skin, and i immediately felt an atrocious pain in my eyes. there was lots of snow around and i slid and fell several times. but i felt the cold snow was relieving the pain so i started covering my face with it. >> he was eventually helped by passers-by, but the damage was already done. when it emerged a leading dancer pavel dmitrichenko was lined the

attack, the dark rivalries and score settling at the heart of the bolshoi were laid bare amid allegations of affairs, corruption, angel usee. now, obviously, nothing can justify the horrific injuries that you have received but when you think about what happened to you, if you could go back, would you do anything differently? do you feel that you in some way provoked this? >> translator: i think no. those accusations that we have heard have not been underpinned by any evidence. they are all lies aimed at lessening the degree of guilt or punishment for this crime. >> a crime for which the guilty will pay. and the victim will continue to suffer. matthew chance, cnn, aachen, germany. >> what an extraordinary story. this too has caught a lot of people's attention. a celebrity chef in court on the stand admitting that she used cocaine. >> she's not the one on trial

though. find out why she did not want to testify in this court case. we're live from london coming up after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day

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obama, has just finished speaking. he was giving a speech in washington at the center of american progress. speaking about the economy and also the government's potential to help address what he said was the united states' rising inequality. here's part of what he just had

to say about paying for a college education. >> when michele, the daughter of a shift worker at a water plant and a secretary wanted to go to college, just like me, this country helped us afford it. until we could pay it back. so what drives me is a grandson, a son, a father, as an american is to make sure that every striving, hard-working optimistic kid in america has the same incredible chance that this country gave me. >> and many will probably remember that the president and the first lady have been very open about it took so many years to pay off those loans, there's 40 years old before finally paying off the loans. let's talk to jim acosta with more on the president's message about affording education, the disparity of economics in this corrupt, et cetera, et cetera.

>> sure. hi, guys. a couple of things were going on there. the president's message, let's talk about that for a few moments. he was talking about income disparity, income inequality and he laid out some markers for things he would like to see the congress pass, some things that by the way the congress is not likely to pass because it's so deeply divided right now. they've been at war with the white house at least on the house republican side. he's called for a hike in the minimum wage and says emergency unemployment benefits should be extended at the end of the year. house republicans have been cool to that idea. so there was a political element obviously to this speech today. he's also trying to reconnect with his base. i mean, keep in mind this base has been dispirited somewhat in recent weeks because of the botched rollout of healthcare.gov. so i think there's also some of that, as well. on that front, we should point out in the last hour, a source familiar with the enrollment numbers for the affordable care act confirmed to cnn they have

enrolled about 29,000 people in the first two days since the website was deemed to be working for the vast majority of americans. so since december 1st, the first two days, 29,000 people enrolled more than the entire month of october. so people inside the administration are starting to feel more confident about that, and as you heard, at the tail end of the president's remarks in the speech here in washington, he went after republicans on obama care challenging them on these ideas of repeal and saying that republicans owe it to the american people to tell them what they're for when it comes to health care reform, not just being against the affordable care act. a couple things going on in the president's speech, rallying the base, also going after republicans laying markers down for the budget battles to come. >> that issue is becoming more and more talked about, income inequality, wealth disparity if you like, which is very marked in the united states. is there a sense in washington this could become a big election issue? >> i think it could be.

one thing the president did mention and white house officials have said is that this is sort of a preview of some of what he'll be talking about in the state of the union speech. not only today is, he's going to be talking about when he gives his state of the union address. that takes us into the midterm election cycle we're going to be seeing getting very, very fierce in the next several months. yes, you're going to hear the president talk about this more. we are dealing with divided government. i mean, they can't even avoid a government shutdown it seems at times. and by the way, that is also looming in the start of next year. and so to think that the republican house of representatives is going to hike the minimum wage, extend emergency unemployment benefits and do all of these other infrastructure and shakes enhance thements that the president would like to do, investments the president would like to do is not realistic at this point and the president is not saying these things because he's poly annaish about it but there are battle lines being drawn with the republicans to

take us into the election year. >> the realities of washington where not much gets done, sadly. jim accost ta on the spot, and the president calling for that increase in the minimum wage saying it will be good for the economy, good for families. >> enhancing a lot of lives. overseas now. a celebrity chef in court on the stand admitting that she used cocaine. >> find out why she didn't want to testify about that in particular. who could blame her? we're live from london. that is coming up next. life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis

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combinations of your favorite seafood from lobster to crab, shrimp and mussels in a savory broth. try one today, and sea food differently. now, try seven lunch choices at $7.99. sandwiches, salads and more. hammer down on six major banks today slapping them with billions of dollars in fines. >> this is how the eu is settling the anti-trust case involving giant banks accused of trying to manipulate interest rates. heaven for bid. it's a record fine. nearly $2.5 billion and it's going to be shared by six financial institutions and guess what, two of them are american. deutsche bank has the biggest slice of the fines, more than 700 million euros. but jn morgan chase and citibank having to shoulder a healthy

chunk of the penalty, as well. >> what would you guess when it comes to countries which are the worst and the least corrupt? guess what, there is a list. of course, there is. >> there's a list for everything. >> a group called the transparency international do this every year or two. they sfar officials in the public sector about corruption and they cover 177 countries. >> and they found that somalia and north korea rank highest or worst on the list for corruption, afghanistan, sudan and south sudan round out the worst five. as for the five least corrupt countries in the world. >> denmark and new zealand tied for first place. friendly places. while you can't see it here, australia at nine, the u.s. 19th. but that's the 19th least corrupt. >> you had to get that in there. there had to be a comparison. >> new zealand, that's like you losing to canada. >> just as there is a list for everything, there's a group for

everything. on to another high profile case involving high profile celebrity chef. >> her name is nigella lawson. she's big in the cooking world and took the stand in a london courtroom today, made a rather startling confession. this has been all about airing dirty laundry testifying in a fraud and embezzlement case against twos women who once worked for her and her now ex-husband. prosecutors say the two women used lawson's credit cards and spent more than a million dollars on themselves. >> but then wow, what a case of turning the tables. nothing involving celebrities is ever simple. this case has become more about nigella lawson's personal life which is also topsy-turvy right now. >> erin mclaughlin covering this from gavel to gavel. it is about the an sittents. it's become rather tawdry and as much about the broken marriage of nigella lawson and her new ex-husband. she admits to using cocaine.

how does that come up in a court case about fraud? >>. >> hi, michael. today, nigel lal lawson addressed allegations that have come up through the course of this trial he's a habitual drug useser. she says she does not have a drug problem, she's not a drug addict. she says she thinks she has a life problem. she did, however, acknowledge using the drug cocaine on two separate occasions. the first occasion during a time, a tough time in her marriage to the late john diamond when they both had found out that he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. she aid they took the drug to, in her words, escape from treatment. she said she didn't use cocaine again until july 2010 in her marriage it charles saachi. she described that marriage in which she felt subject to "intimate terrorism" from

saachi. she said she felt totally chained, isolated and unhappy and a friend gave her cocaine. she also acknowledged marijuana use but says that currently she is drug-free. now, she also said that she never expected to be at the center of this trial, after all, the defendants in this case are her former assistants, two former assistants, liz bet ta and francesca grillo. the prosecution says the two women charged over $1 million to saachi company credit cards. the women saying lawsonen knew of these expenses and that she was a habitual drug easter. it wasn't until today that lawson has had a chance to respond to those allegations in court. mikele? >> had her say in court. the trial does continue. erin, thanks so much. >> only likely to get even nastier. >> she is seen here on some of the food network with her show. but she's huge in europe. huge in europe.

of course, her father, nigel lawson was a former chancellor of the exchequer. a very well-known figure in the uk, like treasurer if you like. >> very well-known. let's talk about how a union official is telling cnn the man driving the train that derailed sunday in the bronx had probably nodded off. >> the latest on that deadly train crash next. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn? yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief!

welcome back. in new york city, a union official has been telling cnn that the man driving the train that derailed on sunday was such

tragic results had probably nodded off. >> because that official talked to the media, the rail union has been kicked off the ntsb investigation, which has strict confidentiality rules. four people died sunday, more than 65 others hurt when the metro north train jumped the tracks while going three times the safe speed for the curve it was on. >> nic robertson has been following the developments in this investigation from the time that it happened. before we talk about the accident itself, tell us about the union getting kicked off the investigation. how big a deal is that? >> it may not be too big a deal in and of itself. the ntsb has a lot of people giving it advice and information. the union was one of those groups. so it's one of a number of groups that could give its expert information and advice. so there are others at the ntsb can call upon. what the ntsb is saying this union representative when talking to the media broke the confidentiality agreement that

all these different organizations enter into with the ntsb for this investigation. and they're saying for that reason, they've now had to exclude that the particular union from the investigation. but we're not hearing that it's going to cause problems in terms of the investigation, michael. >> okay. and then nick of course, some of the information that was revealed by that entity was that he may have dozed off or was in a zone. there are so many different ways in which to phrase it. let's talk about the real realities what that means. was it that he fell asleep potentially, was it he was kind of hypnotized by the rails? what? >> yeah, when we were talking to his lawyer last night, his lawyer told us he had had a good night's sleep the night before, gone to bed at 8:30, got up at 3:30 in the morning. so he should have been in a good position, at least the driver not nod off as the representative was describing it.

even the lawyer said to us, he finds it hard to put it into precise words. highway hypnosis is, lapse of concentration, nodding off coming to before the moment when it was too late to do anything about it. his union represent said look, who hasn't when they've been driving down the highway, who hasn't in their car had that momentary lapse where they've come to a few seconds later and said i don't remember those last few seconds, i don't remember that part of the highway. that's the comparison that he makes. the union represent also saying that the train engineer very, very emotional upset about what's happened here. fredricka? >> nic robertson, thank you so much for that update. appreciate that. >> okay. pope francis has revealed that he was once a nightclub bouncer. >> talk about a man of the people. he's done it all. >> it could be good practice for helping out at the pearly gates. he could stand there, man the gates and deal with that. we have a live report coming up. >> all right.

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in canada, lottery officials have name add ontario woman as the winner of a $50 million jackpot nearly a year after she lost the winning ticket. >> she didn't even know. she says she feels lucky not just for winning but also because officials tracked her down. the ontario lottery and gaming corporation launched an investigation after the prize went unclaimed for almost a year. >> when does that happen. >> who does that? >> it happened in this case. and boy, is she lucky. they found her by looking at credit card records and surveillance video from the store where she bought the ticket. don't you have to use cash to buy tickets in the u.s.? >> i don't know. i'm never going to win. >> yes, do you. >> you know. you've purchased one or two. >> true. who could have imagined the man who now presides over the

world's 1.2 billion catholics once watched over the entrance of a nightclub? very politely. >> if only there was a video or picture of that. new revelations now from pope francis himself have people once again relating to him as the pope of the people. >> daniel burke is coeder to of cnn belief blog on cnn.com and joins us now from washington. i suppose it says a lot about this hope we're getting you guys on here all the too imto talk about some new interesting thing about this pope. a bouncer at a bar in argentina, though, tell us. >> yeah, can you believe it? this is a pope that said he wants a church that is bruised and hurting. we didn't know till this week that this is a pope who was prepared to do some of the bruising himself. he told a group of italian catholics earlier this week that among the other jobs he's held in his life was, as you said, a bouncer in a nightclub in argentina. and as you said, i think the

point of this message, he also told them he was a janitor, that he worked in a chemical factor for a while running laboratory experiments. so the point i think to show these people that he is a man of the people, that he's not just some guy on i an pedestal. he's a real guy and they too can kind of lead holy lives. >> all of this taking place when he was a teenager or in his early 20s or something? >> last year, right? >> that's right. he was only elected in march. he could have been doing it at any time. but no, he's talking about his -- when he's studying to become a priest. it would have been his late teens, early 20s. yeah. >> okay. fair enough. >> what sort of correlation does he draw between that experience and the other experiences, as well and now the leader of the roman catholic church other than sort of makes him more sound like a man of the people? >> sure. so what's funny is if we can imagine pope francis back being a bouncer, he was probably a pretty terrible bouncer because this is a guy who really wants

to embrace everybody. he would have let everybody pass the velvet rope, maybe bought him a drink. he doesn't talk much about his bouncer past and how that relates. but he says his career is an a teacher of literature and psychology really helped prepare him for the papacy. you can see that in his writings. this is a guy who is really good at connecting with people. those may play into what he's doing now more so than the bouncer career. >> what you mentioned was interesting from the research and being a bouncer. but there are other jobs he's done, as well, you said a janitor, other jobs that were just as magnificent in a very interesting kind of way? >> sure, yeah. one of the interesting stories about the pope is that he led a jesuit community down in argentina and one of the things that even though he was the leader of this group of 30 or 40 men, he would get up every morning at 5:30 to do the laundry for the entire community. 30 or 40 men. so it's a guy who likes to get his hands dirty, you could say.

>> he does define the word humble. what's been the public reaction to this latest revelation, if you like? >> yeah, i mean this is a pope who knows how to get people talking and they're certainly talking about this bouncer revelation. there is people calling him the velvet rope pope. >> that's cute. >> a former spokes -- former speechwriter for president obama suggested that we write a sit-com about the pope's experience and call it "heaven can wait and so can you." and then there are some people who on our blog and other places are saying we get it, pope francis. you're cool. now we need to know whether he can translate the coolness factor into what is his primary job, getting people to take a second or third look at the catholic church. >> that will be the mammoth task in some circles for sure. >> daniel burke will be appearing here all week. >> that's right with all these nice drippings of more goodness. >> we were saying we can imagine him at the pearly gates standing there and going, no, i'm sorry.

i'm sorry. you can't come in. >> you're not getting in. i know good. >> daniel, great to see you. it is great. we've got all our belief blog guys having chats about this pontiff. check out the belief blog. great read there@cnn.com. >> very good. all right. we all know that the u.s. was the first to make it to the moon. >> or did they? >> that's how the history books. >> yes. >> have documented. >> that one small step for man moment. but now the space race to be the first to farm the lunar surface. >> you'll want to hear about these plans to put down some roots on it. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd.

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welcome back to "around the world." we might go outside of the world in a minute. word that water has been found in the atmosphere of five planets outside our solar system. the hubble space telescope has picked up traces of water. >> but before you start thinking about life as we know it, scientists say these planets are huge swirling gas giants but down the road, with the launch of more powerful telescopes perhaps, we might be able to pick up whether small rockier planets kind of like earth may have water on them. >> now staying in space and going where no plants have gone before, let's talk to chad who's here to tell us about growing

plants on space. what is going on? >> when i first heard about the story, i thought we're just going to shoot a bunch of seeds into the moon and see if they grow. not quite. we're going to take a little pod like a terrarium. >> i recognize that. >> that's completely self-contained with seeds on it, kind of think of a coffee filter with seeds implanted. we're going to shoot it to the moon. no water in it yet. but when it gets to the moon, we'll put the water in the can and allow it to grow and see if it gross in the lunar gravity in the lunar radiation and see compared to the same plants that they're growing and they water at the exact same time on earth what these plants look like. basil, a little bit of rock cress, and turnips. we'll have to see if we can grow food on the moon if we can actually live there. we keep shooting food all the way up. we have to eif it will grow. >> that's the idea to see if we can sustain ourselves up there if we decide to move up. >> we're not going to have ronald mcdonald holding the

ground. we are going to take our own dirt, our own water, our own atmosphere, our own oxygen because there's not enough to get these plants to grow. >> how long does this experiment encompass? >> that's a little anti-climactic. five to ten days. >> really? i want you to tell me years. >> i was going to say 50 years. >> that's what i'm waiting for. >> that's all they hope to get out of this. there will be more experiments later but the terrarium will only be self-contained. >> because it is a terrarium, the lunar soil isn't going to support growth. >> just because you know, the soil really won't grow much because it has never had real organics in it that we know. there's no real nutrients in the lunar. >> a few bags of mir gal gro to work on the soil slowly over time. >> people have hydroponic gardens. if you bring a liquid that has the hydrouponic nutrients, you can grow it in a rock. >> the chinese are planning to

head up and see if they can build a factory one day, which is maybe not pie in the sky. we'll see what happens. if they do, they might be able to get basel, turnips. >> lunar rocks are worth more than diamonds. so bring them back. >> now it's paying for itself after all. >> fascinating stuff. thank you, chad meyers. can you get our trash can back. >> a nice little terrarium there. that was cool. today, let's look at some pictures. taken by our cnn teams around the world. this is from pairs. cnn's nick wrenn had this photo of love padlocks. can you see the love padlocks on the pont de art bridge. >> they do that in florence well. coups write their name on the locks, hang them and then throw the keys in the river showing unbreakable love for each other. i'd love to review how many of them are together today. but actually on the upon the

ef-veccio in florence they stopped you doing it. >> marcy hines is a producer here. she was in kenya recently and took these pictures. it was taken at what's called my brother's keeper ministry which helps people living with aids and hiv. >> fantastic stuff. showing one of the helpers at the ministry showing off her children to the camera. lovely stuff. >> uh-huh. okay. that's going to do it for us. there were more pictures but another day. >> news room" starts now. that's why. see you tomorrow. see you tomorrow. >> ballpark. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> hello, i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we're only one hour away from the release of the 911 calls that marked one of the worst mat shootingses in u.s. history when adown young gunman blasted his way into the sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut and massacred 26 people in cold blood. 20 of them little dr